Cilic beats Muller to set up quarterfinal against Querrey

LONDON • Top-seeded Marin Cilic set up a quarterfinal with Sam Querrey after coming from a set down to beat Gilles Muller 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 at Queen’s Club on Wednesday.

Cilic was the losing finalist in the grass-court tournament and at Wimbledon in 2017.

Cilic was champion in 2012 at Queen’s Club and runner-up also in 2013. He came close at Wimbledon last year, losing to Roger Federer after suffering from bad blisters in the final.

Fifth-seeded Querrey, the winner here in 2010, beat Stan Wawrinka 7-5, 6-7 (3), 6-1.

The big-serving American won in just under two hours against Wawrinka, a three-time Grand Slam singles champion.

Also, Frances Tiafoe beat Leonardo Mayer 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 to set up a last-eight clash with Jeremy Chardy. The Frenchman beat Russian Daniil Medvedev 7-6 (6), 6-3.

• FIFTH-RANKED Elina Svitolina believes she is making progress on grass after reaching the quarterfinals at Birmingham for the first time with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Alize Cornet of France in the Wimbledon warmup tournament.

Svitolina was within a couple of wins of becoming world No. 1 earlier this year without ever enjoying much success on grass.

She next plays Mihaela Buzarnescu, a 30-year-old Romanian, who is at a career-high No. 30, having been ranked 267th a year ago. Buzarnescu beat Petra Martic of Croatia 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.

Magdalena Rybarikova, who rose almost 90 places last year to reach a career-high No. 17 in March, once again showed her liking for this surface with a fine recovery against Kristina Mladenovic.

Rybarikova next faces Slovenian qualifier Dalila Jakupovic, who on Tuesday overcame a difference in rankings of almost 100 places and saved four match points while beating seventh-seeded Elise Mertens of Belgium.

Jakupovic followed up by getting past 18th-ranked Naomi Osaka of Japan, who recently beat four former top-ranked opponents. Osaka was forced to retired injured after losing the first set 6-3.

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YUICHI SUGITA of Japan upset third-seeded Dominic Thiem 6-2, 7-5 at the grass-court Gerry Weber Open in Halle, Germany.

The 52nd-ranked Sugita forced 13 break opportunities and took three as he advanced to a quarterfinal against American qualifier Denis Kudla.

Kudla defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3, 6-4 in their second-round match.

Seventh-seeded Kei Nishikori lost 6-2, 6-2 to Karen Khachanov of Russia.

Fourth-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut stayed in control against Robin Haase, winning 6-4, 7-5, and the Spaniard will next face Khachanov.

Defending champion Roger Federer plays Benoit Paire in the second round on Thursday.

• FORMER SINGLES champion Lleyton Hewitt and partner Alex Bolt have received a wild card entry into the men’s doubles competition at Wimbledon.

Tournament organizers did not offer a wild card to British player Dan Evans, who has returned from a year-long ban after testing positive for cocaine.